


While He Was Sleeping

by whatsthatfor



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types, While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 22:29:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4539882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatsthatfor/pseuds/whatsthatfor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Literally just a While You Were Sleeping AU, starring Grantaire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Memories

Grantaire remembers two things about his childhood, and neither of them are as orange as the painting in front of which he’s standing, paintbrush in hand. First, he remembers being with his dad; his father would get this far-off look in his eye and tell Grantaire, “Life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan.” Grantaire always wishes he had realized it was his life his father was talking about. They would still go on their adventures together, packing up the sometimes-working car and heading off to destinations as exotic as Milwaukee.

  
But despite how exotic Wisconsin wasn’t, Grantaire’s favorite stories were always about his mom. His father would take him to the church where they got married, and Grantaire would beg him to tell him more about the ceremony and crazy Uncle Irwin, and when his dad knew that he truly loved mom. And his father would say to him, “R, your mother gave me a special gift. She gave me the world.”

  
Grantaire glanced over at the ‘world’ in question – it was just a globe with a light in it, but as romantic as Grantaire’s father was, it may as well have been the world.


	2. While you were awake

The first time Grantaire saw him, he didn’t give Grantaire the world – it was just a $1.50 train token, but Grantaire looked forward to it every day. He appeared at Grantaire’s booth at the station between 8:01 and 8:15 every morning, Monday through Friday. And he was perfect – tall, dark, and handsome in every sense of the word, with black-rimmed glasses and sleeve tattoos that Grantaire could see through his white dress shirts some days in the summer.

  
A Prince Charming for the modern era, Grantaire called him. Not that they had ever spoken, beyond a polite “good morning” every day when Grantaire handed the man his ticket. But Grantaire knows they will. He just knows it, and Grantaire will introduce himself and it will be perfect, just like his prince.

 

* * *

 

 

Grantaire struggles to yank a Christmas tree through the window of his apartment by a rope, muttering to himself all the while.

  
“Forty-five dollars for a Christmas tree and they don´t deliver?” Echo, his long-haired calico cat, stares at him from the couch.

  
“You order ten dollars’ worth of chow mein from Mr. Wong´s, they bring it to your door. Oh! Ooh, l should´ve gotten the blue spruce. They´re lighter.” And with that, Grantaire steps on the rope and slips, falls on his ass, and drops the rope. The tree drops from the window, landing with a shatter. Grantire lifts his head, but doesn’t move.

  
“R!” someone shouts from below. Grantaire lets his head drop back onto the floor and sighs. Echo jumps off of the couch and steps onto Grantaire, purring.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Eponine sighs as soon as Grantaire steps into her office.

  
“Nature of claim: Christmas tree through window.” Eponine glares up at him as she fills out the form.

“How am I gonna put this on the insurance? They’re still pissed about the fire when Gavroche and Montparnasse tried to barbeque in the stairwell.”

“I missed that one,” Grantaire says, a hand on the back of his neck while he gives Eponine a sheepish grin.

“Great sausage, terrible paperwork.”

“Look, Ep, I’ll pay for it, I can pick up Christmas –”

Eponine sighs and rubs her eye with the back of her hand. “It’s fine, R. Montparnasse knows a guy in the glass business, and he still owes me several over that barbeque.”

“I got you a Christmas present?” Grantaire pulls a small, festively wrapped box out of his coat pocket, and holds it out to Eponine.

“You’re Jewish,” she says, but she puts down her pen and takes the gift. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.” Grantaire grins, and Eponine smiles at him, finally pushing the paperwork away from her.

“I haven’t even – ” the office door crashes open, cutting her off, and Montparnasse appears in the doorway.

“Ep, you still got that wine I got from Babet to my probation officer?” Montparnasse drapes his arm around Eponine’s shoulder, and she glares at him before she shoves him off of her. He droops, then straightens up when he sees Grantaire. “Hello, R. Nice, uh … nothing is nice about that outfit what am I saying?”

Grantaire pulls at his sweater – it’s one of his best, oversized and garishly patterned in red and green.

“It’s in the back room,” Eponine says. As soon as Montparnasse leaves, she adds, “He’s still single.”

“Shocker,” Grantaire says, rolling his eyes. Eponine cackles, and is still laughing as Grantaire leaves.

 

* * *

 

 

“Grantaire! Grantaire, I’m glad I found you!” naturally, Grantaire is in the middle of his lunch break when his boss finds him.

“I was hoping you’d find me at Disney World.” Grantaire takes a bite of his sandwich, and looks expectantly at Valjean.

“Grantaire, I have to ask a favor of you – ”

“No.”

“Grantaire – ”

“I’m not working Christmas.” Grantaire starts on his bag of chips.

“Did I mention the extra holiday pay?”

“I hate you.”

“Look, Floreal is sick and Lesgle can’t switch because he has some big family thing. And I promised Cossette that I’d be there this year, she’s bringing over her boyfriend for the first time.”

“This is the worst,” Grantaire sighs, crunching his trash into a ball and stuffing it in his pocket.

“I know it isn’t fair, and I can’t make you do it, but you’re the only one – ”

“Without family, I know.” Valjean sighs, and Grantaire looks down. “I’ll do it, it’s fine.”

 

* * *

 

 

It’s Christmas, and Grantaire is at work. Alone. He hasn’t seen more than two people all day, and he misses Echo, and he’s spent the last four hours sitting in his booth sketching. Right now he’s looking at a page full of people he knows, and putting the final touches on a portrait of Eponine.

“Excuse me?”

Grantaire jerks up, nearly falling off of his chair. It’s his Prince, and he’s smiling into the window. The Prince drops a token into Grantaire’s bowl and glances down at Grantaire’s sketchbook. “That’s really nice. Merry Christmas!”

And just like that, Grantaire’s Prince is walking away again.

“Ye – Um – ” Grantaire drops his head into his hands, then looks back at the Prince. “Nice coat. Merry Christmas to you too.”

The man is walking away. His coat is perfect too, and he’s wearing a bright red scarf that Grantaire wants to paint him in. “You’re beautiful, will you marry me?” Grantaire watches while three men approach the Prince. “I love you.” Grantaire looks back at his sketchbook. Eponine stares back, challenging. He shouldn’t have painted her so … like herself.

Grantaire looks up, just in time to catch one of the strange men shoving the Prince. He stands up, hears shouting that he doesn’t have time to process, and suddenly the Prince is gone, fallen onto the tracks and the three strangers are running. Grantaire sprints over, and sees the Prince lying on the tracks.

“Somebody help me, please!” Grantaire shouts, looking around. There’s nobody there. Grantaire drops down onto the tracks and kneels by the Prince’s head. “Dude? Dude! Hey, are you okay?” He nudges the other man’s shoulder, to no response. “Ca – Can you get up? Man, this is not good.” Grantaire grabs the other man’s shoulder to shake him, then shouts at him instead. “Are you breathing? Oh, god, you smell good!”

Grantaire pauses again for a moment, then feels vibrating on the tracks. “Oh, fuck.” He glances up, and of course there’s a train coming. “Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. Dude? Hey, there’s a train coming!” He looks between the still unmoving man and the train. “There’s a train coming and it’s coming fast! It’s an express! Shit.” Grantaire grabs the man around the chest and rolls them both over, out of the way of the oncoming train. As the wheels pass them by, Grantaire looks down and the Prince’s eyes open.

“Hi,” he says. Grantaire nearly swoons.


End file.
